Friday, November 18, 2016

Freckles by Amy Lane - Blog Tour with Excerpt and Giveaway

There are a zillion of them, but the gist—the existential truth of all
of them—is that while it’s easy to tell somebody how to do a thing, the actual
accomplishment is much harder in real life.

When I thought about who Carter was in Freckles, I realized that, although fairly accomplished in his
academic life, he was really very much of a “Goof” in all other areas. He readily admits to Sandy that he’s never
owned so much as a goldfish, and his first recourse in owning a pet is going to
be a manual.

Little does poor Carter realize that a manual is no substitute for the
real thing…

Excerpt

Finally—finally—he was in his flannel pajama pants and T-shirt, sliding
into bed with a copy of Owning a Small
Dog that he planned to read cover to cover before he fell asleep that
night. A part of him was unamused that this was where his speed-reading skills
from law school had brought him, but most of him was just frickin’ beat.

Ten thirty? It was ten thirty at
night?

Jesus, he’d gotten home at nine
the night before, and Greg had taken that as a hint to leave because it meant
Carter was a selfish bastard. And yet Carter had spent the last four and a half
hours dedicating his time to the needs of a thing not Carter.

For a moment, Carter allowed
this to seep in, because it was important. He had assumed he was the one at
fault in that scenario. He worked long hours, he had trouble communicating when
he got home from work, emotionally unavailable, yadda, yadda, yadda—but
. . .

But that tiny dog thought he was worthwhile.

Carter sat up in bed, shoved Greg’s pillow behind his back, and settled
down to read.

“‘Congratulations on your purchase of a small-sized or “lap” dog—’” Grunt. Yip. Clatter. Carter looked over
to the other side of the bed and saw nothing. “Freckles, stay,” he said
sternly.

“‘The first thing to remember as you welcome your new family member
into your home is to make sure your new pet knows its limitations—’”

Grunt. Yip. Clatter. “Freckles? Stay!

‘Small dogs may look helpless
and adorable, but they are just as intelligent as their larger hunting and
herding counterparts, and they need to be treated with the same resp—’”

Grunt. Yip. Clatter. Yip. “Freckles!”

“Yip!”

And then he saw it—two eyes
appearing at the edge of the bed and a flurry of paws as Freckles tried her
damnedest to latch on to the comforter and pull herself up onto the bed.

“Aw . . .”

Clatter. Bound! “Yip!” Scrabble!

“Aw, Freckles!”

And like his voice was the magic word, the dog actually made it,
digging and scrambling and probably pulling loops from the 600 thread-count
sheets. She came trotting across the bed like an astronaut on a lunar
landscape, and Carter watched her helplessly.

The dog licked his face like he was the best human on planet earth and
Carter and only Carter could save her from a life of loneliness and frostbite
in the hostile environment next to the bed.

Carter scratched her head and told her no licking, and knew her
bullshit for what it was.

Pure bullshit.

The book was trying to tell him to scold her and set her back down in
the dog bed. But she was a warm-blooded creature, and she wanted to sleep next
to him, and honestly? Greg hadn’t wanted to do that almost since the beginning,
really. But still . . . that terrible vision of the ginormous foot
squashing poor Bambi morphed into an image of Carter, sprawled on his stomach
with an abandon he’d never shown heretofore in his adult existence, and a
lifeless little Freckles pancake under his chest.

Okay. So, maybe a bid for sanity. Tucking Freckles into the crook of
his arm, Carter walked around his sled-framed bed and picked up her dog
cushion, setting it right square in the middle of where Greg used to sleep. He
slid into bed himself and put her back on her cushion, making sure she had one
of her rawhide chews from his three-hundred-dollar PetSmart purchase.

She curled up happily, and he
scratched the back of her neck while he read. Inside, he was thinking that he
needed to put the halter on her in the morning, because he had the feeling
there were walks—many walks—in both of their futures.

“‘Small dogs need to be shown who is boss and that the pack leader is a
strong and determined personality. If you are establishing a boundary, be it
where the dog should sleep or what times it should eat, be firm and unwavering.
The dog may protest for a while, but if these protests are ignored, the barking
or whining will gradually desist.’”

“Well hell.” Carter looked at Freckles, gnawing happily on her rawhide,
and she pulled away long enough to lick his hand. “Okay, Freckles, if the book
people ask, I have established your boundary for where to sleep as on top of my
bed. This is a choice, okay?”

Freckles went back to her rawhide, and Carter could tell she’d been
deeply touched by his assertion of authority. As he ploughed his way through Owning a Small Dog, he could also tell
something else. He was in a lot of trouble.

Carter Embree has always hoped to be rescued from his productive,
tragically boring, and (slightly) ethically compromised life. But when an
urchin at a grocery store shoves a bundle of fluff into his hands, Carter goes
from rescuee to rescuer—and he needs a little help.

Sandy Corrigan, the vet tech who helps ease Carter into the world of
dog ownership, first assumes that Carter is a crazy-pants client who just needs
to relax. But as Sandy gets a glimpse into the funny, kind, sexy man under
Carter’s mild-mannered exterior, he sees that with a little care and feeding,
Carter might be Super-Pet Owner—and decent boyfriend material to boot.

But Carter needs to see himself as a hero first. As he says good-bye to
his pristine house and hello to carpet treatments and dog walkers, he finds
that there really is more to himself than a researching drudge without a
backbone. A Carter Embree can rate a Sandy Corrigan. He can be
supportive, he can be a hero, he can be a man who stands up for his principles!

To celebrate the release of Freckles,one lucky winner will receive Freckles
in ebook and another ebook of their choice from Amy’s backlist! Leave a
comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight,
Eastern time, on November 19, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries.
Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget
to leave your contact info!